Fireworks grrrrr

[CoeliacSpinsterMum]

Cat won't move from hiding place - she's terrified. Baby can't sleep. They go off almost every night from October onwards.

Fireworks should be banned after 6pm. And further to that, while I'm here, they should be banned completely except if being sold for official displays. AIBU?

That will take years to put in place

Sounds like a pretty rough area, I live in a luckily quite cheap but nice area so I've never encountered this sort of thing. But equally I have triple glazed windows so I don't really hear anything anyway.

@lasagnelle - your suggestions about re-homing are utterly ridiculous and would be far more stressful for a pet than fireworks. Re-homing offers no future-proof guarantee that there’ll be no fireworks either! Neighbours change you know!

In most cases sure. But in extreme cases where animals are being traumatised for a month of every year I think it should be considered as a last resort

Fireworks are nothing like what they used to be when they first became tradition.

Anyone who thinks it's okay to create a level of noise that causes distress to others is a massive selfish c*nt. That's noise in whatever form.

How anyone thinks it's okay for any jackass to be able to buy fireworks and let them off in their back garden when they live in a built up area I'll never understand.

Public displays fine but not private, not at the noise level the selfish twats seem to get all hard and sticky over.

It's ridiculous whichever way you look at it. A year 13 old dog, happy for the vast majority of the time with his family, rehomed because some twats can't keep fireworks to 1 night?

A lot of the problem is they end up in the hands of idiots who use them to intimidate, scare and cause damage, because they're not regulated enough. Or idiots who don't know how to use them safely and cause problems.

Local fire service got a call last weekend where a fire had been set, then got pelted with fireworks when they arrived. Absolutely disgusting. And it usually happens somewhere, more than once over firework 'season'.

They need to be more expensive and harder to obtain, they shouldn't be available in supermarkets. If people had to put more effort and expense into getting hold of them, they'd be less likely to bother.

No fireworks round here but the neighbourhood cats are still shitting in my garden and there's still dog turds on the verges. Ban pets? Or live and let live?

I thought I was going batshit for a second there. Glad someone else finds this as ridiculous as I do! The balance of responsibility and consideration just seems to have gone out of the window these days. I genuinely do not understand the attitudes of some people. I'm not sure if it's entitlement or that society really does not give a shit about each other anymore.

I have a cat who is spooked by them and I know other pets are much more distressed so I agree, something needs to be done! It’s been going on for night after night!

What?

Mine isn't scared of them. I don't know what she thinks of them, but she sits on the patio and watches them. I guess she sees them as something unknown, to guard against? Or maybe she sees them as pretty?

I don't know, but she is not scared and really wants to go outside. She sits infront of the patio door, whining to go out.

If it's really bad then yes. 1 month of the year is too long for a dog to be living in fear

Not every dog is terrified though. My dog was in the garden watching them with the kids last night!

I don't think they should be banned after 6pm as that would mean people setting them off earlier when I'd be walking my dog in order to miss being out in them.

But I agree they should just be sold for professional displays only. It was one of the best nights growing up, going to the local fireworks display and just having sparklers and a bonfire in the back garden at home.

@Createausername1970 - the whole debate started because the OP’s cat is terrified of them. Obviously we are not talking about pets who are not bothered by them.

@Catapultaway My selfishness of having a cat does not affect any other people. She is a homebody who does not go further than my garden, so no, she does not shit in other people’s gardens. She does not kill birds or any other animals.
Selfish people who set very loud fireworks for weeks and weeks, often late at night, do affect my quality of life and not having a cat would not improve it.
Having tougher regulations, reporting and dealing with people who break the law by setting fireworks late at night, would.
The teenager who tormented us for weeks, has not set off a single firework since the police spoke to him two years ago. I don’t know what they said to him and his parents, but it worked.

Fireworks are banned in my village apart from the 2 organised displays at the pub and the school. It's because a few years ago a horse was hurt so badly by a firework on a random November week night that it had to be put to sleep. It's not legally enforcable, obviously, but it would be a brave individual who flouted local law and incurred the wrath of the villagers 😁 We have loads of farms and stables in the village to be fair. Everyone understands and it works. The displaysare known about weeks in advance and are decent. No more needed.

@Outtherelookingin
It is a cheapish area (for South East) but don’t think it is particularly rough. Most of the time you can’t hear any unusual noise, even though it is densely populated. We have long gardens which back to row of trees and then other gardens. After I moved here from a more expensive area but close to a town centre, it felt like being on holidays, it was so quiet. It still is for most of the year.
However, for whatever reason they go mad in October/November. Maybe they are competing with each other.

No, but I was replying to a poster that said you should not have pets if you live in an area where there are fireworks.

I have a pet who isn't scared and I took steps to achieve that.

I have found in real life many people who complain about how scared their pets are of fireworks but have done nothing to try to desensitise their pet and try to improve matters for the pet.

Some animals will be scared no matter what, but a pet owner should at least try to desensitise and reduce the stress. Many didn't even think about trying things to desensitise and many have had this suggestion from vets or other pet owners but can't be bothered to make the effort, but are happy to moan.

Not saying this is the OP. Just saying it is possible to create a situation where a pet isn't scared of fireworks, but it can take a bit of effort.

I’ve tried everything to help my dog - acting normal, calming meds, plug ins, thunder shirt, calming music etc etc but nothing has worked. There’s also people who’s pet never used to mind fireworks but suddenly develop a fear of them when they are older. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do to help ☹️

That's us. My dog was always fine with fireworks. It's the past 5 years, which correlates with them getting louder and more frequent

Tried all of these but doesn't help. As for playing music or keeping the TV on, I couldn't hear the TV for all the bangs going off, so that didn't help. I do live in a very built up area and it's hilly too which might mean the sound reverberates more. But it honestly sounds like bombs being dropped.
https://www.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/home-and-environment/fireworks

If you want to try something else in a few months, once we are past New Year and the fireworks have pretty much gone away, try you tube videos of fire work displays. Quietly to start with, so you can hardly hear them, then turn up the volume slightly. Gauge how your dog is and decide if he needs to get used to them at that volume or if he can cope with a bit more volume.

Not saying it will work for every dog, but its worth a try. The older the dog or cat, the more ingrained the reaction has become, but if you can start to desensitise throughout the year with a young dog then it can be beneficial.

I believe you can buy CDs of sounds that include fireworks, and the principle is the same. Start off very quietly. I have been told the 1805 overture is good for unexpected bangs, but never personally tried it.

Amazon sell ear defenders for cats and dogs. Problem solved!

My colleague lives 30-40 miles away in a small town and said fireworks had been let off pretty much every night since the weekend before Halloween where she lives. Colleague was saying they’ve even been letting them off on Christmas Day night by her the last few years. It’s comparable where my grandmother lives - town next to a city - although not on Christmas Day (so far) and has been for a good few years now.
I live 12 miles away from my grandmother in a large village and usually we have a few nights of fireworks around Bonfire Night and some on New Year’s but that’s about it. We seem to have fewer on Bonfire Night itself compared to when we first moved here though.

I’m in the keep it to a few nights a year camp. Even where my grandmother lives when I was growing up you’d have them going off on Bonfire Night or the weekends either side if the weather was crap on Bonfire Night itself but that was it.

Where there’s a will to outlaw or restrict things it happens. For example 100w incandescent light bulbs.